, The Times
Britain’s Zed Nelson was named photographer of the year at the Sony World Photography Awards in London on Wednesday night for his exploration of our changing relationship with the natural world. Images from The Anthropocene Illusion, which examines how humans have created artificial experiences of nature in the face of climate change and shrinking biodiversity, go on display today at Somerset House at an exhibition of work by the shortlisted and winning photographers. The show runs in London until May 5, before it travels the country. A commemorative book (£24.99) is also on sale at shop.worldphoto.org.
The Sony World Photography Awards opens today at Somerset House, worldphoto.org. Use the code “TIMES50” online for a 50 per cent discount on tickets. The code is valid until 5pm on May 5.
WINNER (Sport): By challenging stereotypes India’s handful of female skateboarders turn the activity into a form of resistance in a patriarchal society
CHANTAL PINZI/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
WINNER (Perspectives): Two South African schoolchildren make their way home through the gang-governed Cape Flats area of Cape Town, in an intimate portrayal of adolescence
LAURA PANNACK/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
SECOND PLACE (Landscape): Drought, fire and deforestation created apocalyptic scenes in Brazil as the country experienced its hottest 12 months on record last year
LALO DE ALMEIDA/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
WINNER (Architecture and Design): The Tokyo Toilet Project is an urban redevelopment project in the Shibuya-ku area of the capital whose distinctive buildings are as much works of art as they are a public convenience. These images are part of a larger body of work documenting the architectural aesthetics of these structures in their urban environment
ULANA SWITUCHA/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
WINNER (Documentary): In his Divided Youth of Belfast series, the German photographer Toby Binder has spent years documenting what it means for young people, all of whom were born after the peace agreement was signed, to grow up in both Protestant and Catholic neighbourhoods
TOBY BINDER/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
WINNER (Portraiture): Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomblé, as practised by Samara Souza, were criminalised in Brazil until the 1970s and still face violence and prejudice. As an Afro-religious priest in training, Gui Christ wanted to photograph a proud, young generation representing African deities and mythological tales
GUI CHRIST/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
WINNER (Creative): Rhiannon Adam was the only female crew member among the eight artists chosen in 2021 for the Japanese billionaire and art collector Yusaku Maezawa’s week-long lunar mission on board SpaceX’s Starship. For three years she immersed herself in the space industry, until, in June 2024, Maezawa abruptly cancelled the mission
RHIANNON ADAM/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
OPEN PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR (Motion): Many photographs of a Moroccan tbourida — a traditional equestrian performance — show the riders firing their rifles but Olivier Unia captures how dangerous it can be for a fallen rider
OLIVIER UNIA/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
WINNER (Landscape): On scenes of contemporary Japan Seido Kino overlays archival photographs of the same location to raise questions about land and resource constraints on an island and avoid past mistakes
SEIDO KINO/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
WINNER (Environment): Alquimia Textil is a collaborative project by Nicolás Garrido Huguet and the researcher and fashion designer María Lucía Muñoz that showcases the natural dyeing techniques practiced by the artisans of Pumaqwasin in southern Peru. The project aims to bring visibility to these ancestral dyeing practices, which demand many hours of meticulous work that is often underestimated within the textile sector, and preserve them
NICOLÁS GARRIDO HUGUET/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
STUDENT PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR: In her project The Last Day We Saw the Mountains and the Sea, Micaela Valdivia explores female prison spaces and the people who inhabit them, from the inmates to their families
MICAELA VALDIVIA MEDIN/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
WINNER (Wildlife and nature): Zed Nelson’s Photographer of the Year-winning project, above and below
ZED NELSON/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
ZED NELSON/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
SECOND PLACE (Documentary): The effort to conserve more than 54 varieties of corn in Peru and 65 in Mexico has endured for more than 7,500 years. The Indigenous Quechua, Wari, Nahua, Otomi and Wanka tend the land with unique traditions, protecting their corn seeds. In Florence Goupil’s photograph, Lorenzo Martin de La Cruz, a Nahua indigenous priest and protector of native seeds, guards the altar dedicated to his deities
FLORENCE GOUPIL/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
SECOND PLACE (Environment): The Sacha Rescue Foundation gives sanctuary to animals displaced by development around Guayaquil, Ecuador’s principal port, or illegally trafficked
MARIA PORTALUPPI/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
YOUTH PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR: Daniel Dian-Ji Wu says his photo at Venice Beach Skatepark in Los Angeles gave him “a sense of passion and freedom”
DANIEL DIAN-JI WU/SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2025
